Bryzgalov likely back, but will he be better?

VOORHEES, N.J. --- Ilya Bryzgalov’s first Flyers season culminated with a 3-1 playoff loss at home, when the Devils scored twice within three deflating, demoralizing, destructive first-period minutes. His second season didn’t even go that far.

Three seasons, anyone? Four? How about seven, which is how long Bryzgalov is still signed for, at $51 million, spent when Ed Snider demanded that Paul Holmgren buy the best available goalie in the world?

“You know, it’s out of my hands,” Bryzgalov was saying Sunday at the Skate Zone, a Flyers baseball cap on his head, a chip on his shoulder, a smirk on his face. “And I have no control over this.”

It’s out of his hands, and so were too many pucks in two seasons that were too ordinary on the ice, and quite the opposite everywhere else. The Flyers ended a 48-game mini-season with 23 wins, with Bryzgalov going 19-17-3 with a 2.79 goals-against average; nice production, but not enough to squeeze the Flyers into the playoffs.

What happened?“We just finished yesterday,” he said. “And you right away want answers.”

Flyers fans have been waiting since 1975 for the only answer that matters, so they don’t have to justify their forbearance. Bryzgalov has been around for two years, and maybe no more should the Flyers use a new amnesty clause --- and the appeal of Steve Mason --- to clear him from under their cap, and from their sour dressing room. But Holmgren insisted that it will be within the 2013-2014 budget to finance both Bryzgalov and Mason, and that their teammates respect them both. So it is likely that the Bryz Kids will be back.

It wasn’t Bryzgalov’s fault, anyway, that not enough of the young forwards improved since last season, that there were the usual injuries, that the defense in front of him too often buckled. Yet on a team with leadership issues, beginning with the coach, Bryzgalov rarely elected to absorb much blame, or at least not enough of it to sever the tension.

By Sunday, Bryzgalov was determined to redirect the onrushing criticism, leaving it out there like an unattended rebound, not that it was the first time.

That’s what happens when a team loses more than it wins: The got-to-gos outnumber the way-to-gos. Yet Bryzgalov rejects the concept, dragging the grumpiness of the press into the end-of-season analysis.

“It’s not like it is fair or unfair,” he said. “We already had the conversation. It’s just ridiculous. Just ridiculous. Sometimes you’re reading, and it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, who is this lunatic? What are they writing about? It was nothing close to the truth or close to being related to hockey.’

“You read this and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to deal with these people every day.’ I’ve said it before, guys. Before you write something, you’ve got to read what you’re writing. I’ve been here two years. I never saw a good article with everything like, ‘The Flyers lost the game because of this, this, this, this, this. They need to improve their game like with this, this, this or this.’ Never. That’s what is called professionalism. It’s like, ‘OK, this reporter knows hockey. He knows what he’s talking about.’”

Hockey criticism, like hockey pucks, can bounce everywhere. And Bryzgalov is right to holler about the press, if that’s what he feels. If the media don’t want to hear something, they shouldn’t ask questions.

The goaltender’s rant was entertaining, not deeply mean-spirited, not personal. But in an unfiltered hockey sense, was it relevant? Is questionable in-season press coverage why the Flyers will not have any during this postseason? And why was a $51 million goaltender obsessing on that that after such a flat season?

“I’m here every day,” Bryzgalov said, before taking off for an early summer. “I work very hard every game, every day, every practice. Yeah, maybe result is not what was expected. But I sweat a lot here. And bleed a lot.”

What else were the Flyers expecting for their money? Tears, too? Maybe next year. Or the one after that.